The title says it all! Andrew Onermaa is the 2025 Tour Divide Single Speed champion! Ezra sits down with Andrew for 3 plus hours to get into all the nitty gritty details of Andrew's incredible run down the Divide. Going for a ride isn't required for this one, but it certainly is encouraged!
Andrew and Ezra sit down with good friend of the show, and member of the Old Man Mountain x Silca Experimental Bikepacking Team: Stephanie Hall to discuss the current state of bikepack racing in the United States in 2025. Topics range from Stephanie's new team, making ends meet as an up-and-coming bikepack racer, the current sponsorship landscape, the first half of the 2025 US race calendar, and I'm sure a few more things I've already totally forgotten about!
SURPRISE! After a very strange 2024, Ezra and Andrew are back to rambling about their lives, bikes, and all things bikepack racing. In this catch up episode (sometimes it feels like all we do is catch up episodes), we do just that. Catch up! It's mostly personal updates, but there is a bit of bikepack racing banter mixed in. We really are trying to make this a somewhat more consistent thing, especially with Andrew's BIG triple crown racing plans for 2025 and Ezra just trying to get his bikepack race finishing rate back to 50%. But we'll see what we can manage!
The episode title really says it all! Ezra and Andrew sit down for a very informal recap of the 2023 season, while also looking forward to 2024. Highs and lows are discussed, future plans are divulged, and incredible accomplishments are recognized. We know it's a longer one...but the end does get a bit spicy as some strong remarks are made about the cycling industry relating to its lack of relationship with bikepacking and bikepack racing. We've also got a bit of a call for action: Got any questions or topics you'd like to hear discussed? People you really want us to talk to? Send us whatever you've got via instagram to @thebikepackracingpodcast - Thanks and happy listening!
"The current best American bikepack racer." That's the title Ezra gave Abe Kaufman after he smashed the FKT at the Arkansas High Country Race this October. Add in a 4th place finish at the 2022 Tour Divide plus FKTs at Trans North Georgia and Trans Virginia, and it's safe to say Abe is certainly a dangerous man when it comes to bikepack racing. In this episode we dive into Abe's relatively recent introduction to the sport, his calculated and comprehensive approach to racing, and how he keeps a smile on his face deep into these massive efforts. If this conversation doesn't get you stoked on setting big goals for 2024...we don't know what will...enjoy!
To start...sorry! We know it's been a minute...or 8 months...but we are trying to get this thing rolling again. In this "catch-up" episode Andrew and Ezra sit down and have a meandering conversation about a whole lot of bikepacking, bikepack racing, bike racing, and general life things. It was oh so good to sit down and catch up. We hope you enjoy listening to this unedited conversation.
In this final episode of 2022, Ezra and Andrew sit down for a rather informal and rambling wrap up of the past year. They discuss their own personal highs and lows from the past racing season. Talk about the current state and future of The Bikepack Racing Podcast. And go on more than a few tangents into other bikepacking related topics. Hopefully this episode finds you either on the couch recovering from a hangover or on the bike chasing new 2023 resolutions...either way...enjoy and thanks for listening in 2022!
For episode 24, we have our first recurring guest of the podcast. Back in May, Lauren Brownlee sat down in Ezra's van to chat after a victory at Ride/Race Across Arizona and then a podium finish at Pinyons and Pines Bikepacking Race. You can listen to that conversation in episode 9. This conversation picks up where we left off as we discuss Lauren's second half of the 2022 season. Which included taking on the Boise Trail Challenge in a way only a seasoned bikepack racer would find fun, turning on "touring mode" after mechanical issues at the Colorado Trail Race, and then a return to winning ways at Idaho Smoke and Fire 400.
...and we are back! This episode was recorded live from the finish of the 2022 Arkansas High Country Race in beautiful Hot Springs, AR where Ezra and Andrew sat down for an in person conversation with 3rd place finisher Daniel Connell. The conversation begins with a much too short exploration of Dan's extensive touring excursions in Central America, across the entirety of Africa (@locociclos on IG) , and on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route . We discuss the challenges and benefits of "winging it" while on an adventure, trip saving encounters with members of the Sudanese national cycling team, and much much more. We eventually transition to all things AHCR, where Dan and Ezra give a day by day recap of their battle for the final podium spot in the mountains of Arkansas...Spoiler alert: Dan wins!
What does it take to win the Colorado Trail Race? For Will Bodewes, it might be a little...or a lot different than what you'd expect. Sleep banking for fourteen days before the start of the race, a majority of training being less than an hour, using olive oil as chain lube, and eating a block of cheese during the race. These are just some of the many unique ways Will prepared for and executed on the 2022 Colorado Trail Race. The episode starts with a bit of background information on Will, but it isn't long until it's all things CTR!
It's taken a minute (or a month), but in this episode we finally hear from Andrew on his incredible effort to win to his first bikepack race at North South Colorado Bikepacking Race. Andrew covers his time spent in Colorado before the race, pre-race mishaps, racing head to head with one of the greatest ultra endurance athletes ever, the lows you don't see while watching the dots, and what it felt like to finally push through years of adversary and mishaps in previous races to take his first ever bikepacking race win.
Mateo Páez has stormed onto the ultra endurance/bikepack racing circuit in 2022. He started the year with a 3rd place finish at his debut bikepacking race: the Stagecoach 400, struggled with some gnarly weather at The Odyssey of the VOG, before bouncing back with another 3rd place finish at the inaugural Westfjords Way Challenge. In this episode, we chat about Matt's start in cycling, his first bikepack racing efforts, and then focus in on the unique experience of racing in Iceland at the equally unique Westfjords Way Challenge. Mandatory cultural stops? Lael Wilcox playing on a trampoline mid-race? Reykjavík road racing team tactics? This event had a little bit of everything...and we talk about it all!
The Tour Divide might have taken up most dot watchers attention during the month of June...but we did in fact have other races going on! I'll be honest, outside of the United States we have a knowledge gap when it comes to international races and the players in those races. We'll continue to stick with what we know...but when the opportunity presents itself to go international...we'll take it! Our guest for Episode 16 is the winner of the 2022 BC Epic 1000: Cory Ostertag. In this episode, Ezra and Cory have an in-depth conversation about Cory's cycling beginnings, balancing training and racing with having a family, the British Columbia bikepacking scene, Cory's first attempt at the BC Epic in 2021, and finally his 2022 victory!
...and we are back! It's been a busy few weeks in the bikepack racing world, and we've got some catching up to do! We'll start where we left off...with the 2022 Tour Divide. Our guest this week is Andy Leveto. In 2018, Andy completed a northbound attempt of the Tour Divide in 23 days 2 hours and 9 minutes. In 2022 Andy was back for more! This time heading southbound with the grand depart. Ezra met Andy early in the race, and they proceeded to race each other to pit toilets for the first ~1500 miles. Ezra ultimately dropped out in Colorado with a tooth infection, whereas Andy went on to finish a whole week faster than his 2018 attempt in 15 days 20 hours and 25 minutes, finishing in 5th place. In this episode, Ezra and Andy deep-dive into Andy's Tour Divide experience as they discuss training programs, snow covered passes in Montana, headwinds in the Basin, sleep strategies, and much much more!